"All Quiet On The Western Front" Review: The Horror of War
Franklin D. Roosevelt was right when he said “War is young men dying and old men talking.” All Quiet On The Western Front embodies this throughout its running time. It’s not a war movie, it’s a collateral movie. The violence and silence within it shows the horror that is war.
Director Edward Berger takes the third at bat for the adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s book. Berger’s eye for detail and his ensemble’s performances make for a war film that stands out in the genre and annals of cinematic history. The story hasn’t changed. Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer) is a seventeen year old who wants to go to war after hearing a speech given at his school. It’s some speech, because war sounds like a way to serve his country, become a man and a hero to him and his friends. They enlist the next day and Paul is quickly thrust into the truth and horrors of war. So are we.
Within a few hours of being out in the field, an attack leaves Paul as the sole survivor amongst his friends and scarred for life. It’s the little details along the way that make this so heart wrenching. He should have known something was up when he received a uniform that belonged to someone else. Once he’s in it, there is the collection of dog tags. The soldiers not only have to fight and fear for their lives, but they also have to face death. They literally have to look at bodies of fallen friends who had a name, family and friends and collect identification from their corpse. It’s cruel. It’s traumatizing. We have to witness it along with Paul.
A tale tale heart moment comes later when Paul kills an enemy in the trenches and has to listen to him die slowly because he can’t get out of the trench. He watches him take his last breaths and suffers mentally knowing how much pain he is in. The shift from kill or be killed to empathy is executed in a heartbreaking moment as he tries to save him and apologizes for what he’s done. This results in him finding a photo of his wife and child. This is what the film repetitively nails home. There is nothing fun, beautiful or fantastical about war.
If there’s a film that should help us think twice about war, especially in these times, it’s this one. The collateral of war is not just on the battle field but it hits the soldiers family back home and especially the soldiers themselves.
Rating: A
